Fiction or Fact
by Shoe Malfoy
Summary: This is a tale of many stories. Draco Malfoy contemplates his duties, Severus Snape wonders what to do, Dumbledore chases horcruxes, Harry sinks into himself and through it all, Hermione keeps writing her own stories.
1. I

In this world, there will be no romantic endings. Those who were once enemies can never be forgiven. All the insults, all the lies, the physical assaults; it was always too much. They never realised they would spoil the future so.

In another world, a parallel universe, there was no hostility between Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.

In this new world he and Harry trained for Quidditch together, their teams would practice for the big games together, whilst these games were always taken seriously, there was never any lasting animosity. The boys respected eachother.

In this world, Draco did not feel the need to insult Ron. He felt pity for the boy's lack of wealth, yet respect also for he knew how great some in his family had been in their time at Hogwarts. He would not shatter the boy's only dreams.

In this world, Draco lightly teased Hermione's intellect for a few years, until he began to respect her for both her wits and knowledge. They were rivals in the classroom.

Yes, in this world, one event had changed all of their lives, Lucius Malfoy had died at the hands of Voldemort in the first reign.

And in this world, one crucial thing changed. There would be romantic endings.

---

Of course, Ron and Harry believed that Hermione worked too much, always questioning how it was possible that she had more work to do. But they didn't understand her passion.

Hermione Granger wanted to be a writer. She applied her knowledge to her countless books. Originally, this writing had started out as texts, elementary books on her school subjects. A combination of all the available books, the teachers' personal comments and her own ideas.

But then, her ideas had morphed into something more; the wonderful world of fiction.

She found herself getting lost in fantasies of every kind. Every year were the usual stories of saving the day, learning many things from her experiences, one day killing Voldemort. And every year, her attractions for certain boys became clear, she was, after all, a teenage girl. Originally both and Harry and Ron would be there for her, and then increasingly Ron (excluding some short stories where he died painful deaths after, for example, dying of a curse from a certain firebolt, or at the infected teeth of his rat), Victor Krum popped into the stories a bit also, as did several boys from school and, during the summer, the muggle world.

All these stories, however, had a tendency to run true with her life. What she already had experienced combined with her hopes, dreams, fantasies.

And then one day, this day, Hermione had the idea to twist things. Propose a different world, different endings, different characters.

She just had to remember that this was all fiction, none of her fantasties were true.

Yet now, that she had written the introduction, she found herself wondering. Why had she specifically changed the character of Draco Malfoy? He had been in her stories before, surely, but never had she portrayed him as a good guy. Not only this, but she had made it out to seem like he would fall in love...and considering Ron and Harry were male (she giggled at the thought of posisble romance)...it seemed he would fall in love with her.

She almost screwed her piece of parchment at that thought. But no, this might turn interesting.

Because that is what her stories were about; making the impossible seem possible, if only fleetingly. 


	2. II

Fiction or Fact II

Draco Malfoy spent many hours alone in his sixth year at Hogwarts. Few students noticed his absence, and those who did seemed only to acknowledge this because he wasn't around to insult them as much.

One person, however, was concerned about Draco. Severus Snape had been charged with the duty of protecting the young Malfoy boy, at his mother's wishes. Severus Snape, however, was at a loss for what to do. He knew what had been demanded of the boy; maintaining his facade through lies, hours of research and work and eventually...murder. His mother's request would ask that Snape keep Draco from such activities, especially murder, she wanted her son to be innocent - yet she also did not want him to suffer at the hands of the dark lord if he were not to complete these tasks.

Severus had ideas of perhaps doing the required tasks himself; getting the death eaters into Hogwarts. Yet this would require that he didn't tell Albus Dumbledore of his actions. And after all the old wizard had done for him over the years, could he betray him and his castle so? Would he be better to sit and wait, let Draco do the deed himself? But if Draco succeeded, then Dumbledore might die...and he once again found himself faced with the problem of his promise to Narcissa, he must not let Draco kill...or suffer the consequences of not killing. What would he do?

But the main issue of concern was that Severus did not know where Draco's loyalties lay. If severus offered to do the tasks, would Draco deny him, actually wanting this path for himself? Would he perform all his duties without fail, without emotional concern, without loss of soul?

And as severus contemplated these impossible questions, so too did Draco Malfoy.

He was in the room of requirement again, surrounded by texts, searching - always searching - for means of how to get death eaters into Hogwarts, it seemed impossible. If he failed...well, Draco had always been concerned with his own fate above that of anyone elses. He did not want to die.

Though he was not heartless: Draco often wondered about alternatives. But every other option always ended in his death. Confiding in Dumbledore, betraying Voldemort, becoming a spy...he would be killed instantly, the dark lord would see through it. He could always tell Voldemort he hadn't found a solution, that he could not find a way to get the death eaters into the castle. Yet he knew if he failed, he would die. And even so, if he managed to get the death eaters in, would he be able to kill?

And kill Albus Dumbledore nonetheless! But it was kill or be killed, and as a spoilt, rich, pureblood, at sixteen years old, Draco did not know the meaning of self-sacrifice.

His world was simply too dark. He could never be like the golden trio, the rumours surrounding their little 'adventures' were exaggerations he knew. And yet these rumours had to come from somewhere, and his father had confirmed that Potter had faced the dark lord quite a few times. How did Potter have the strength to do this? Was he driven purely by revenge

--

_Draco Malfoy had been sorted into Ravenclaw within his first hour at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and this moment was to define the rest of his life. He was one of few Malfoys to ever have been sorted into a house other than Slytherin, and though his mother had been surprised, Narcissa had not wanted him to go down the road his father had. Not only this, but she acknowledged that the house would do him justice; Ravenclaws persue intelligence, are full of pride, sometimes egotistical, but always think out their options and choose the smartest choice.  
_

_Draco had found himself in a house that was fiercly competitive in terms of schooling, and he quickly rose to the top. He was not a particularly attractive boy, rather pale and with slicked back blonde hair. Yet his physical appearance was often forgottn in favour for his sharp wit, intelligence, competitiveness, skill on the quidditch pitch and his confidence. He found himself very popular within the school, yet never too close to anyone - you couldn't trust a ravenclaw. They simply wanted the best grades for themselves and, while never cheating, they were very manipulative. _

_After being awarded with the highest grades in Ravenclaw, Draco had found himself thristing for more - and his eyes had fallen on Hermione Granger. Surprisingly she was not in Ravenclaw, and still managed to best him in all of their subjects! In a manipulative tactic of his own, Draco had befriended the three Gryffindors in an attempt to see what Granger did that assured her high marks._

_This was nearing the end of first year, and the boy had found himself thrust into a world of fierce friendship and loyalty and of course, secrets. He had stumbled upon the trio researching in the library one day and was surprised to see what they were researching had nothing to do with school._

_As he watched them over the weeks, sometimes helping in their research and, ever so gradually, becoming involved in their plans, he still wondered how Granger maintained her marks - for it seemed she must have very little time! His own marks were slipping with the time he spent in the Gryffindor's company._

_One major event led to them becoming fast friends and that was the search for the philosopher's stone. They had gone through the Devil's snare thanks to his and Hermione's knowledge of the plant, they had travelled on through to the flying key chamber, where Draco had caught the key for the next room, suffering many scars for it. Then Ron had won them the chess game, and whilst they were reluctant to leave their friend, they knew he'd be waiting for them. Of course, the unconcious troll was no real obstacle, but the potions chamber had prooved tricky for them. Finally Hermione had solved it and Harry and Draco had gone onto the finally room, containing the mirror of erised. It seemed Draco's glory was short lived though. As soon as Quirrel had seen him, he had been stunned - it seemed Voldemort was none to happy to see the son of Lucius, who he had killed years ago. Thankfully, Harry had defeated Voldemort - for now, anyway._

_The four friends had accomplished much together that day, and Draco was glad. He no longer felt the need to compete with the people he had risked his life for._

_It seemed inconceivable to most, how could the houses mix together? _

_And yet to the four friends, it made perfect sense. Together they fought all obstacles; from everything as trivial to Quidditch games and arguing over who would buy the first round of butterbeer, to the dangers and perils that surrounded Voldemort._

_Draco and Hermione were the brains for all their elaborate plans. They worked together on everything, and when something became too much for one, the other would pick it up. They not only helped eachother excel, but their two friends as well. The four complimented eachother perfectly._

_Hermione found herself loving these three boys as brothers as the years past. but gradually, her hormones starting kicking in. And she knew that her sixth year held many things in store._

--

If only Draco Malfoy could see this, she thought, wouldn't he be amused at my naive descriptions! Hermione knew there were holes in her story, the houses just never mix like that unless for dating. It would be hard for three gryffindors and one ravenclaw to become friends too, with seperate common rooms...but she would work that into her story, she had the talent of making impossible things possible.

If only she knew how true that was, not only for her stories, but every aspect of her life.


End file.
